My mirage drive does not seem to want to snap in place easily. The cassette snaps easily in place, so it cant be the thing it snaps into. On only my 3rd outing with my new pro angler, I have tried so hard to snap it in that one of my fins fell off and was lost. Could my PA been shipped with an older drive by mistake? Now I must replace a lost fin and wonder How could it have fallen off so easily. Do I replace it with an ST or a Turbo ( which ones normally come with a PA? )?

If a fin fell off, likely the forward end of the drive is below the forward ledge. When you pedal in that position, the aft fin will torque against the well and peel the fin off the hardware. Center the pedals in the adjustment positions to hold the drive level when inserting into the well. Perhaps remove the surge / drive seal (if present) to make it easier. Review the drive FAQ: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=12836

My Mirage drive is a pain to clip in.... I have to play with it a while in order to get it in. I just got my new 2011 kayak and put it in the water today and I had problems getting the drive to lock in.

My Mirage drive is a pain to clip in.... I have to play with it a while in order to get it in. I just got my new 2011 kayak and put it in the water today and I had problems getting the drive to lock in.

Spend some time on dry land to figure it out. In the worst case... your drive well could need a small amount of material trimmed off. This is done by hand here and sometimes they can be a little tight.

If you have the surge protector on the aft end of the drive. Try removing it. They can cause some issues with new users as the create friction at the aft end and can cause the drive to tip forward as it is lowered into the well.

The drive has to be straight up and down to drop in easily. I had the same issue with my PA so I set the boat on stands on dry land, inserted the drive until it clicked in, then made some alignment marks with a permanent Sharpie marker on the hull so I'd have some reference points when on the water. Turned out, I wasn't installing the drive unit straight up and down after all.

Now I just drop it in, and wiggle it around for a few seconds and it drops itself in and clicks in place.

I own two Outbacks and just purchased a 2011 Pro Angler from an individual. I am having a hard time getting the mirage drive to sit properly. When I place the drive in the Outback it sits fine, so it doesn't have anything to do with the drive. It appears the drive opening may need to be trimmed as you have mentioned. When I measured the opening of the Outback compared to the Pro Angler the Outback was just under 1/4" larger. The drive eventually goes in with ALOT of wiggling from front to rear.

How do I trim this myself? Should I take it to a dealer and have it done?

I wonder how it is possible to lose a fin if the fin mast falls out: the fins should still be connected to the drive at 2 points - at the front they are slid over the fin mast and at the rear they should be attached to the drive via the rear "clew" attachment. Therefore they should not simply drop off the drive even if the fin mast does come out of the sprocket. If this happens the fin should dangle from the drive by the rear clew attachment and the fin mast shouldn't just slide out of the fin and sink either because they're a tight fit in the fins.

This is exactly what happened on my drive this very weekend. My drive is an old "Version 0" drive with stainless steel sprockets. The fin mast dropped out of the drive because of a failure in the retaining split pin. When I went to pedal there was no resistance and I pulled the drive to find out what was wrong. The front fin was dangling from the drive attached only by the clew attachment.

Slightly off topic but to complete the story - I always carry a number of spares on board and was easily able to pull the drive, reinstall the fin with a new split pin and continue on my merry way.

The ease of repair/replacement of a broken/dropped out fin mast at sea is, to my mind, a huge advantage of the Version 0 drives over the newer ones on which it would be very difficult to effect such a fix while bobbing about on the waves due to the much more complicated means of attaching the fins to the sprockets (i.e. set screw or screw-in).

On the newer (V1/V2) drives it might be possible to reinstall a fin mast that has FALLEN out of the sprocket but you would probably need tools (I do carry them) and/or to take the fin mast out of the fin to effect the repair and/or the plastic sprocket may get damaged as the fin mast falls out. In the case of a BROKEN fin mast it is the devil's own job to remove the broken stub of the mast from the V1/V2 sprocket assembly on land, let alone at sea, meaning that you would have to return to land under paddle/sail power to repair the drive or that you would have to pull your drive apart, replace the entire sprocket assembly with a new one with a new mast in it and reassemble the drive at sea.

I own two Outbacks and just purchased a 2011 Pro Angler from an individual. I am having a hard time getting the mirage drive to sit properly. When I place the drive in the Outback it sits fine, so it doesn't have anything to do with the drive. It appears the drive opening may need to be trimmed as you have mentioned. When I measured the opening of the Outback compared to the Pro Angler the Outback was just under 1/4" larger. The drive eventually goes in with ALOT of wiggling from front to rear.

How do I trim this myself? Should I take it to a dealer and have it done?

Easily done. Take it to your dealer if you need to, but a small amount of filing at the point where the drive is hitting the well should do it.

Look down into the well AS YOU ARE REMOVING IT. You'll be able to see the alignment. The drive will click in under it's own weight. If you are meeting any resistance at all it is not lined up correctly.

I had the same problem when I first purchased my Oasis. Then I discovered if I set the peddles to the 4 setting and slowly set them into clips straight and evenly I can just push them into place with very little effort until they click. Before I was trying to force them into place by bashing them against the clips. Now they go in every time and I don't run the risk of breaking something. Good Luck! Practice on the land. You'll get it.